Saturday, August 28, 2010

Well, no. I am not gay. I mean, not that there is anything wrong with that... moving along.

Even though I hate getting homework and this year totally seems like it's gonna be a bitch- damn you Advanced Placement education!- I am also pretty stoked. Because this time of the year signifies the start of something wonderful! TV Fall lineups! Summer is a pretty barren time for television as all the writers and execs take some down time and let the masses revel in the horrid mess that are Summer Blockbusters. But now the cycle starts all over again. So let us take a look at my most anticipated shows.

Community- Season 2

I think this pretty much the only show that I currently follow that I have seen from the absolute beginning and I'm glad it's this one. When Community started I really wasn't expecting that much out of it. The premise seemed alright and it really appeared that it would just be a series of throw-away jokes shoved into a 22 minute time-frame but as it progressed and relationships developed amongst the characters and this small world was created it quickly became one of the funniest and smartest shows. It really reminds me a lot of Arrested Development in that future episodes would have a throw-back joke to a certain character or event- obviously not to the extent that AD did it- and I find that to be a big factor that comedy sitcoms miss out on.

Chuck- Season 4

Last time I mentioned Chuck I had talked about how I sort of wish they ended it on a high note as it it appeared to be on a wavy pattern with some eps. being great and some... not so great. But I guess I miss the show because now I really couldn't want more Chuck than I already do. Of course, I'm still concerned that it will only go downhill from here but I have enough faith in them. So I might as well enjoy the good times as they come.

Dexter- Season 5

I literally just finished watching season 4 like 3 hours ago and although I had a pretty big plot twist spoiled for me, the show was as intense as always. I can usually call something in a show before it happens as television and films become more and more predictable but Dexter is the show that has made me WTF out loud more than I can count. I'm always telling myself Dexter will get away but will he? These are the types of questions that keep me up at night. Not to mention that the season 4 finale totally left everything in a crazy mess. So yeah, pretty much one of my favorite shows ever. I guess it also helps that it takes place in my hometown. It gives me a strong, false sense of significance.

There a bunch of other shows I plan on watching but just don't really matter to me as much. But I don't want the other shows to get jealous so we'll at least list them.

Honorable Mentions

30 Rock- Season 5

The Office- Season 7

Parks and Recreation- Season 3

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia- Season 6

I think that's everything.

On top of keeping up with these shows I'm also in the process of watching shows that I've been meaning to get to. Weeds, Mad Men, True Blood and I'm waiting on Netflix to get Bored to Death in stock. And I saw the Big C the other day and it was pretty cool I guess. God, why don't I have DVR already?

Thursday, August 19, 2010

I always forget how much I like shitting my pants from fear until genuinely awesome horror presents itself to me. Lately though, it's been a much bigger part of my daily intake, which I can thank the guys over at my forums in the scary shit thread for.

I recently read 2 horror novels. They were both thoroughly entertaining and it felt awesome to read books again. The last time I read this much for recreation was too embarrassingly long ago to even want to remember.

The first book was House of Leaves. Pretty much it's about this guy who has sex all the time then finds this manuscript to a movie that doesn't exist and then continues to have sex all the time until he has so much sex that he is homeless. The manuscript in question is called the Navidson Record. It's the story of a family who moves into a house that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. A door pops up in their living room that leads into a never ending abyss of scary. The stress and fear this instills in the people living in the house is so bone-chillingly real that you will actually start to question if just what the hell you're reading is nothing more than a novel.

The other book is John Dies at the End. This one is a horror comedy and let me tell you that I have never seen a more beautiful combination of the two words. This book is abso-freaking-lutely hysterical! I have never laughed audibly at a book. Maybe a smirk here or there but this shit had me rolling on my bed. It's about two slackers called John and Dave who take a drug they call Soy Sauce that opens up a world to an alternate and monstrous dimension that they often believe to be hell. They start seeing freaky shit and they start a business where people see weird shit and they take care of things. What makes the book so funny are all the genuine characters. John and Dave are the type of guys I'd expect to find at the mall on weekend maybe without all the hell-beast adventuring part.

What strikes me as neat is that these are two very well-regarded horror novels and they both circulated around the internet before they gained an audience and were published into novel form. The flood of creative media that comes out of the internet is so immense that I wonder what is out there left to be found and enjoyed.

Which leads me to Slenderman. Slenderman is a tentacled, suit-wearing, 6 foot tall and faceless monster that is currently the the king of horror on the internet. The legend goes that he stalks children and likes to hang out in the woods and the deeper you get into his whole lore the closer he is to getting his crazy tentacles around your mind and then nobody knows what happens once he has you.

It started off as a simple horror photoshop game on the SomethingAwful forums and then it took off and spread like wildfire. There are now a bunch of blogs, youtube accounts and community forums based around the mysterious entity. Some of them are utter crap but there are quite a few decent ones. Easily the most recognizable Slenderman tale is MarbleHornets. It's a series of viral videos about a kid who is being stalked by Slenderman after his friend disappears trying to escape him. This series gave way for a rush of new fan created account of Slenderman attacks and sightings.

The scary thing about Slenderman is that it comes to a point where there are so many stories that other blogs and videos start to reference one another and you essentially end up with this fictional world set within the rules of another fictional world. There were a few days where I became paranoid that all the Slenderman research I was doing would result in some sort of hallucinogenic freakout that I would then write about in a tumblr account and restart the cycle for some other helpless sap. It never did. I've been wanting to write my own Slenderman story for a while now but I'm still kinda freaked.

The next step into my downwards spiral of crippling fear-induced anxiety is Uzumaki. Some horror manga type deal. Sounds like fun! Which reminds me that I have to finish Death Note...

P.S. I'm sorry if you don't like horror and you just happened upon this post. Please accept this picture of a flying kitty-cat if I have left you too scared.

Friday, August 13, 2010

I saw Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I can finally say with certainty what my favorite movie is. It's Scott Pilgrim, just in case you weren't getting that.

Now the film wasn't perfect but the films biggest flaws are things that are rather unavoidable when you're stuffing 6 books into a 2 hour film. So in that respect, Edgar Wright did the best he could with what he had and his best is fucking incredible.

I'm pretty sad that it's over now. I'm adding this to the list of bittersweet moments of my life. Moments like this come by frequently when you're constantly becoming emotionally attached to a series and it's characters. I was so heartfelt that as soon as I got home I played Ramona by Beck from the film's soundtrack and wrote Bryan Lee O'Malley an email thanking him for creating Scott Pilgrim.

If you could all only know the surreality that came over me when I first saw the title sequence. It was just something I knew was coming but when it finally happened... I was speechless. I'm still kind of feeling that. Talking about the film this way only makes it seem even more over than it already is.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I am currently waiting for the PlayStation store to update so that I may claim my digital copy of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game. At the same time I am trying my hardest to not listen to the all the songs on the Scott Pilgrim film soundtrack. It's so hard because the music is so good.

Why does the PS Store always take the longest to update when I'm waiting for something? I really wanna play this thing already! It kinda sucks that there is no online co-op but I'm gonna fix this by having some friends over tomorrow.

In other Scott Pilgrim news, Adult Swim is going to air a completely animated sequence from the high school flashback in volume 2! It has members from the cast of the film doing the voice work. Naturally, Michael Cera is voicing Scott, Mae Whitman- who plays Roxy in the film- is voicing Lisa Miller and Jason Schwartzman- Gideon Graves- will be voicing Simon Lee. That last bit is pretty funny is you've read the 6th volume. It will air on Thursday at midnight. So like, it was Wednesday night and then Thursday morning not the night of Thursday.

Just making sure that's clear.

Then Friday is the big day! I'm taking a crapload of friends to see the film with me at midnight. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be the best night ever. Seriously.

Went to the Hoover dam! Wildest dam I've ever been to! I also crossed the state line so technically I also went to Arizona!

Went to Six Flags Magic Mountain and rode X2! Now this was actually pretty goddamn wild. Wildest coaster I've ever been on!

Went to Hollywood and visited the LA Film School to gather my plans for my future as a famous director/screenplay writer/ actor. Wildest film school I've ever been to!

Then in San Diego I went inside two- count 'em, two!- submarines! Wildest submarines I've ever been in.

I also ate at Carls Jrs or however the hell you spell that. The burger was delicious. Then it became less delicious when I saw the health warning sign that said the food at that restaurant contained chemicals that could cause cancer... WILD!

Hello internet, my name is Mario. What's yours?

I go to school but I do a bunch of wacky shit on the side. I like films, comic books and the like. You get the idea I'm sure. I'm aspiring to work in the film industry someday. Ideally Id like to be an actor and a screenwriter. So yeah, snoop around. I hope you find everything to your liking.